


unexpected.

by thomintnewt



Category: All For the Game - Nora Sakavic
Genre: Abuse, M/M, Mentioned violence, Raven!Neil, but here, messed up, messed up timeline, the whole gangs here
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-06-06
Updated: 2016-06-06
Packaged: 2018-07-11 02:27:36
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,486
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7023049
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thomintnewt/pseuds/thomintnewt
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Kengo dies, Renee goes into the Nest to get one Raven and comes out with two.</p><p>[Raven!Neil AU]</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Kevin's stomach sank further as he stared at the television. 

_Kengo is dying.Kengo is dying, and when he is dead, Riko will take it out on them._

"Shut up," Andrew's voice seemed to be miles away, and Kevin realized he had been speaking the entire time.

"No no no no no..." His own voice came back into focus, and he let it die out in his throat as the newscaster keeps rambling, jumping from one story to the next as if this isn't a big deal.

 _I am not at the Nest,_ Kevin thinks, but the relief that pours over him is quickly tainted with guilt. _But they are. I left them behind to face Riko's wrath...I had no choice_ , he tried to convince himself.

Kevin needed a drink.

"Going to get drunk off your ass? How predictable. Boring," Andrew interrupts his thoughts again. At Kevin's hesitation, he flashed a lazy grin, unnervingly devoid of emotion. "Well, don't let me stop you."

Kevin just nodded and took a swig.

Andrew flicked the bottle. "I confess, I don't understand why you're cowering. You're not there. Shouldn't you be happy your Master is dying?"

Shaking his head, Kevin whispered, "He'll take it out on them." As a response to Andrew unimpressed stare, Kevin spoke again, louder this time. "Riko is the second son, so to the main branch, he is nothing. He has this... desperate need to prove himself to his father. If he dies..."

"He'll take it out on them," Andrew finished. "But who exactly is "them"?"

Kevin swallowed. "Jean," Andrew nodded sarcastically, urging Kevin to go on, "...And Nathaniel."

Andrew pauses. He knows the Raven line up. There is no Nathaniel. 

 _He is going to hurt them. I left them._ Kevin's healing hand shot with phantom pain, and his mind went back a couple months.

Riko's jealous fit of rage. Riko telling them to hold him down. Nathaniel half-hearted  protest before Riko turned his gaze onto him and threw him out of the way. Riko destroying his hand. _Riko Riko Riko Riko._

Kevin gripped the arm of the couch and focused on Andrew. On the present.

"Oh Kevin, you don't have to worry. Kengo isn't dead... yet." Andrew said, his voice like sugar coated-poison, and then he got up.

"Where are you going?" Kevin blurted.

"Worried? I'm going out with Renee. Ta ta!" With that, Andrew walked out, leaving Kevin alone in his panic.

* * *

 Andrew knocked at the girl's door, and Alison answered, a sneer on her face. "Renee! Your monster is here!"

Stepping in the room, he met Renee half way. "I'm afraid I have to borrow you for a bit."

"I'll grab my stuff."

When they headed back out the door, Andrew paused. "Do you still have contact with that French Raven?"

"Yes."

Andrew heard the unspoken question she tacked onto the end of it. "He ever mention a Nathaniel?"

"No. Who's that?"

"No one," Andrew said, because he wasn't anyone to him. Flashing Renee a grin, he opened the door. "After you."

 _Nathaniel the Nobody,_ Andrew thought, amused, as he followed. _And so the mystery continues._

After a brief spar with Renee, Andrew went back into the dorms an sat next to Kevin, still hoping this Nathaniel character would provide some sort of interest.

"Why don't I know this Nathaniel?"

It took Kevin a few seconds too long to respond as he broke his eyes away from the TV. "He's supposed to start this year." Andrew gave a over-dramatic gesture for Kevin to continue. "I grew up with him. Riko, he... He chose Nathaniel for perfect court."

"Another one." Andrew sounded bored by the idea, "That makes four. Anything else?"

Kevin kept his mouth shut so Andrew got the message. The rest of Nathaniel was secret.

* * *

 Hours turned into a day, and then another. If Kengo didn't hurry up and die, Kevin's obsession with the news would outgrow his exy obsession. An improvement in Andrew's opinion. 

"Kevin, you've been sitting in front of that TV for hours now, why don't you come eat something?" Nicky asked, but Kevin wouldn't budge, flipping from an exy game back to the news at an annoying frequency. 

"He could at least make a decision on what he's watching," Aaron grunted from the corner.

Kevin didn't hear them.

"Earlier tonight, business man Kengo Moriyama was pronounced dead..."

Kevin's world flipped. _It had happend. Oh dear god,_ it _had happened_. Kevin wasn't there, but he would worry as if he was. He knew it was coming, but it didn't sting any less. His mind flashed from one brutal beating to another, imagining all the sick things Riko would do to Nathaniel and Jean. Kevin wasn't there to lessen the damage.

Andrew casually texted Renee, asking how Jean was. The only response he got was a _" **I might need your help.** "_

He got up and opened the door, ready to go meet with Renee, only to find her standing there. "Why, hello."

"Andrew, he's hurt." Andrew knew she meant Jean. "I'm going in, I'll need your help."

"Can't let a psycho like me near a fight, remember?"

Renee nodded, listening to the logic in his answer. "I'll let you know when I get back." She nodded again, satisfied with this, plotting, and turned away.

Andrew watched her go, and then turned back into the room, where Kevin sat. "Don't let your guilt kill you just yet," _I promised to keep you alive_ , Andrew thought.

Kevin just nodded.

Andrew shrugged and left Kevin to wallow in his self pity while he smoked a few feet away.

Waiting for Renee. Waiting, waiting, waiting. What was he waiting for, exactly? He watched the smoke pour out into the night, and hummed. _So much waiting._

Finally, hours later, he got an answer from Renee. **_Meet me at Abby's._**

"Kevin," Kevin looked up. Seeing he had Kevin's attention, Andrew turned and walked out, trusting Kevin would follow.

"Where are we going?"

Andrew said nothing, a half-smile stuck to his face wearing away. Good, he was almost sober enough to drive. Andrew felt the manic energy fading away as he walked through the parking lot. 

Clenching his fist, he savored the moment he could control himself again. Real. Not bursting with emotion, it was Andrew after all, but at least he wasn't fake.

The drive was short, and Andrew's free reign was even shorter. He started feeling sick as they pulled in the drive. Kevin noticed. Kevin probably noticed everything, seeing as he didn't have to be high as fuck 24/7.

"Take the pill, Andrew."

Andrew didn't have time to puke in the bathroom. He took the pill.

"Andrew!" Renee waved him towards her car. "I need your help getting him out."

Andrew peered into the car. There was Jean, bruised, banged up, passed out, but safely buckled up. Nice touch. Renee reached in and pulled him out, supporting him as he stumbled. _What did she even need help with?_ That's when Andrew noticed there was a second body in the backseat. Someone beaten bloody, worse than Jean even, with reddish brown hair like drying blood. Maybe that's what it was. Someone who looked small and fragile.

Someone who was _not_   Jean. 

This was Nathaniel.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nathaniel wakes.

When Nathaniel came to, he was being carried.

“Jean?” he mumbled. He must have been really hurt if Jean had to carry him, but he didn’t feel it yet, his body coated with sleep, limbs heavy and useless.

“Wrong,” Nathaniel blinked, startled at the unfamiliar voice, and took a look at whoever was carrying him like a sack of potatoes.

He was short, much shorter than Jean, maybe even shorter that Nathaniel himself, and clad in black. Not unusual for the Nest. Nathaniel didn’t care who it was as long as they were getting him to his room.

The air felt warmer, but he might’ve been imagining it. And it was brighter - sunlight, there was sun, making his pale hand glow as he stretched it out.

The pain that cut through him was better than the realization that followed.

He wasn’t in the Nest.

Panic woke him in an instant. “No,” he rasped out. _No no no no no_. They had to put him back, if they didn’t put him back.-

His carrier laughed at his wriggling. “You’re all so spineless. No wonder Riko breaks you so easily." Nathaniel stilled, and heard him laugh again. 

"You wouldn't understand," Nathaniel managed to ground out between the dull sparks of pain.

"No, Little Raven, I wouldn't," with that he was tossed onto a bed. 

Nathaniel tried to protest, to wriggle his way off the bed, but the blond that brought him in shoved him back into his place. He didn't have the strength to fight.

Wait, _small and blond_? Something itched at the back of his mind, but the excitement had been to much for his weakened state. The blackness chased him into sleep as it always had.

* * *

 He woke up in the same bed, tucked in. It almost made him miss his mother, even though she had never done anything like this for him. She had tried, though, he had to give her that.

The room was well lit by sun streaming in through the windows, and overall very... cozy. Wooded furniture was placed neatly and small floral designs were covering the wall. Nathaniel felt the temptation to burrow into the quilt laid on the bed and never come back out, but he knew he couldn't. Not as long as he belonged to Riko.

Sighing, he tested how much he could move. Lifting a leg here, an arm there, flexing, came to a simple result: pain. He couldn't move nearly as much as he wanted to, and would need more rest, a lot of it. Of course. Thankfully someone had stitched the worst cuts while he was passed out.

He leaned back into the pillows and frowned. What had happened? Where was he? Who would break into the Nest and break out again? Who thought he was worth saving?

An unfamiliar woman walked in and startled at the sight of him. "Oh, you're already up. Would you like something to eat or drink? You must be starving. You were out for more than a day."

"Who are you? What do you want?"

"I'm Abby, and I don't want anything from you."

Nathaniel fought the urge to laugh, _everybody wanted something from him_ , as a second person poked their head in. "Abby? How is he doing?" said a small voice, soft and sweet. Nathaniel tried to reposition himself so that he could see who it was when they stepped into the sun.

Bleached, bone white hair with bursts of color on the end. She wore a nice, innocent looking outfit that somehow kept its reputation even with the smear of blood that ran along one sleeve. Renee. Jean's favorite fox. Nathaniel could see exactly why, but that didn't mean he liked her.

"Reneeeeee!" A feminine voice called from the hall. "How's Psycho #2 doin'?"

Renee bit her lip. "Pardon them," Renee said, "I haven't been able to teach them any manners yet." She smiled like they had just shared a joke. "Do you mind visitors?" 

He nodded slowly, and Renee shouted, "Come see for yourself!"

Cautious footsteps approached the door, and then all the Foxes poured in at once. Nathaniel eyed them with disgust. The lowest ranking Class 1 Exy team; a band of misfits with no discipline. He could practically feel them flinch at his condition and smoothly slid his eyes away.

Shallow cuts ran along his stomach, but they could only see the bandages. He was shirtless, all his scars on display. They could see it all; the purple splotches and split skin running along his face and arms. He hadn't seen his legs yet, but but he felt the strips of bruises swelling up his thighs. He knew their eyes were raking over him, making him feel exposed, pitied.

"What?" He challenged, and they finally tore their eyes away.

"Holy shit dude, are you okay?" Nathaniel decided not to answer that.

"Nicky, he's obviously been fucked up, can you see?"

"Probably mentally fucked up, too."

"Seth!"

"I'm just saying, I haven't met a sane Raven. Ever." 

The silence told him all he needed to know about what the others thought.

"Is anything broken?" Renee prompted.

Abby opened her mouth, but Neil said, "Nothing important." _Nothing that would keep him from playing._

Another pause in conversation that Nathaniel decided to ignore had gone on for long enough when Kevin stumbled in. All he said was: "You're here."

Instantly, Nathaniel didn't feel as tired. "Great observation, Kevin. I bet you would have noticed earlier if you didn't ignore me to talk to Jean. I would say it's because he was actually conscious, but we all know it was because you're scared."

The Foxes gave each other a quick glance, one of them even whistled. No one had managed to get under Kevin's skin so quickly. 

"You shouldn't be here," Kevin looked at the other Foxes, "We have to take him back."

"Kevin, he was almost beaten to death!" Dan Wilds interjected.

"Wouldn't be the first time," Nathaniel said under his breath, smirking a little when Dan's head snapped toward him, eyes wide.

"Nathaniel has to be with the Ravens," Kevin insisted.

"We can't just-"

 "He's right. I have to go back. Wouldn't want to scare your little charity case here."

"Aren't we all?" Nathaniel turned to see who spoke. Small, blond... Minyard. Nathaniel's stomach dropped. Andrew Minyard was the one who had brought him in.

Riko had beat Nathaniel until he promised never to speak his name again.

Nathaniel hadn't been there, but he had heard how Minyard had spit and thrown Riko's offer back in his face, and accidentally let it slip that he was glad he did. He had always wished he had a easy way out like that.

 Nathaniel regained his composure and licked his lip before saying, "You guys can actually carry your weight. _Kevin is broken_." 

Kevin flinched, and Nathaniel felt a sick satisfaction turn in his stomach. Squeezing his eyes shut, as if that would shield him, Kevin took a step towards the bed. "Nathaniel, I-"

"Stop talking. You left me, Kev. Why don't you leave again?"

Kevin didn't even try to respond, just nodded and backed out.

"Are you always like this?" Boyd eyed him.

"Only when I'm in a room of people who can't hurt me."

Something flashed in the corner of his eye, and he looked over to see Andrew sliding a knife back into his armband, as if to contradict him. Then he turned and followed Kevin out of the room.

Nathaniel huffed. Whatever. He needed to rest and leave as soon as possible. "Out, all of you. Please."

The remaining Foxes threw him one last glance and left. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ?????????? I have no idea what i'm doing ??????? anywho I hope you liked it, sorry it there's any mistakes... i typed this really quickly.  
>  Thanks for reading!

**Author's Note:**

> I really love Raven!Neil so here we are, my second fic in this fandom.  
> Sorry if the characters seem a little off, I really have no idea how to write Andrew on his drugs, or from Kevin's perspective.  
> I tried, guys.
> 
> Here's the timeline bc this is all a little messed up.  
> This starts where the books themselves start: Neil's senior year of high school. Kengo dies a lot earlier than he does in canon.  
> I'm working on the next chapter, but it won't be out until at least next week.


End file.
